Kyle Gourlay cut his football teeth with Dundee – but would love nothing more than to help Cove Rangers beat them on Friday.
The Cove goalkeeper came through the youth system at Dens Park and trained with the first team, under the eye of goalkeeping coach Bobby Geddes.
Despite not making a senior appearance for Dundee, he holds fond memories of his time with the Dark Blues, who are back in the Championship this season.
But the onus is on keeping his former side at bay tomorrow night as Cove look for a scalp at the Balmoral Stadium.
“I loved my time at Dundee,” said Gourlay. “I got to experience a lot as a kid and I was thankful to the club. It’s a great club but don’t get me wrong, I want to beat them on Friday night.
“I was fortunate to be around the first-team from a young age and learning off every goalkeeper at Dundee, different managers, stood me in good stead.
“Football is all about experiences and just being about the first-team, going away on match days and being on the bench was very helpful at that age for moving forward in my career.
“There’s been a lot of change since I’ve been there but there’s still wee Fin (Robertson) and a couple of young lads from when I was there, so it’ll be good to see them.
“It would be massive for us to beat them. Every game for us is huge; three points is always the same and that’ll be the exact same on Friday.”
Friday marks the first televised league game for Cove, after they were promoted as League One champions last season.
Their form could be better, given they sit ninth in the Championship, but last weekend’s draw with Hamilton Accies showed signs of them turning a corner.
“It’s credit to the club (first TV league game) and how far they’ve come in a short space of time,” added Gourlay. “Everyone will be looking forward to it and there’ll be a good buzz about the place.
“I just hope we can go out on the pitch and put in a good performance.
“Results will come. If we keep playing the way we were on Saturday, that’s going to be huge. Away games are going to be tough and pitches aren’t going to be nice, particularly around Christmas time.
“Picking up points at home is going to be huge and hopefully we can do it again on Friday.”
After a season largely playing back-up to Stuart McKenzie, Gourlay has established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper under Jim McIntyre.
His form has been impressive too as the Cove stopper is benefitting from a run of games between the posts.
“I feel I’m playing pretty well,” said Gourlay. “I just need to keep doing what I’m doing and keep making saves.
“That’s the main thing, when you get a run of games your confidence goes up. The past couple of seasons the team have been playing really well, so it hasn’t really come down to goalkeepers as much.
“Last season we kept a lot of clean sheets and Stu was brilliant. This season we’re going to be up against it – there’s only us and Arbroath that are part-time – and it’s a really tough league.”
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